Microelectronic Circuits for Noninvasive Ear Type Assistive Devices

Title of Document: MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR NONINVASIVE EAR TYPE ASSISTIVE DEVICES Koranan Limpaphayom, Ph.D., 2009 Directed By: Professor Robert W. Newcomb Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering An ear type system and its circuit realization with application as new assistive devices are investigated. The auditory brainstem responses obtained from clinical hearing measurements are utilized for which the ear type systems mimicking the physical and behavioral characteristics of the individual auditory system are developed. In the case that effects from the hearing loss and disorder can be detected via the measured responses, differentiations between normal and impaired characteristics of the human auditory system are made possible from which the new noninvasive way of correcting these undesired effects is proposed. The ear type system of auditory brainstem response is developed using an adaptation of the nonlinear neural network architecture and the system for making a correction is realized using the derived inverse of neural network. Microelectronic circuits of the systems are designed and simulated showing a possibility of developing into a hearing aid type device which potentially helps hearing impaired patients in an alternate and noninvasive useful way.